Michael Buble still tops on U.S. album chart

Singer Michael Buble poses with his Juno Fan Choice Award at the Juno Awards, the Canadian Music Awards, in Calgary, Alberta, April 6, 2008.[Agencies]

LOS ANGELES - Michael Buble occupied the penthouse of the U.S. pop album chart for a second consecutive week, holding strong against the soundtrack from "The Twilight Saga: New Moon," which debuted at No. 2.

Singer Buble's "Crazy Love" sold 203,000 copies during the week ended October 18, according to Nielsen SoundScan, marking the second-best sales week of Buble's career. His highest sales performance was a debut tally of 213,000 for "Call Me Irresponsible" in 2007.

The "New Moon" soundtrack bowed with sales of 115,000 copies. The album was rushed forward from its original October 20 release date to October 16 in order to combat leaks.

On the next week's Billboard 200, "New Moon" might rise to No. 1 if it can fight off country king Tim McGraw, whose new album, "Southern Voice," hit stores Tuesday (October 20).

The second-biggest debut of the week was the Flaming Lips' "Embryonic," which arrived at No. 8 with just under 32,000 copies sold, giving the rock band its highest-charting album. The Flaming Lips' last album, "At War With the Mystics," debuted and peaked at No. 11 in 2006 with 48,000 in its first week.

R&B singer Mario's fourth album, "D.N.A.," entered the chart at No. 9 with almost 32,000 copies. It's his second top 10 album and his first since his self-titled debut peaked at No. 9 in 2002. Mario's last effort, 2007's "Go," peaked in its debut week at No. 21, but with a much larger sales total of 77,000, boosted by its release during the holiday season.

Jay-Z's "The Blueprint 3" moved up two slots to No. 3 with 55,000, while Barbra Streisand's "Love Is the Answer" held at No. 4 with 49,000. Miley Cyrus' "The Time of Our Lives" skipped up three rungs to No. 5 with 40,000, and the Black Eyed Peas' "The E.N.D." zoomed from No. 23 to No. 6 with just under 40,000. Taylor Swift's "Fearless" moved up 10 slots to No. 7 with 33,000 after she stopped by "The Oprah Winfrey Show" on October 14. Rounding out the top 10, Mariah Carey's "Memoirs of an Imperfect Angel" fell three places to No. 10 with 31,000.

The week's album sales totaled 5.84 million units, down 7 percent from the previous week and an 11 percent drop from the year-earlier period. Year-to-date album sales stood at 275.6 million, down 13 percent from the comparable point of 2008.